


The 'Kami' Who Travels

by Foodmoon



Series: Oddball fics [29]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Gen, Mokuton, Other, Ryu is really bummed that his shadows don't wanna work, Shikaku is reborn as Ryuhiko, Writing style is a bit odd, implied rape, some violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2020-12-14 18:21:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21020183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foodmoon/pseuds/Foodmoon
Summary: Post-apocalyptic world, a long-gone soul reborn, and a longer-gone, legendary kekkai genkai reborn with it.Or the one where Shikaku is reborn, with the Mokuton and proceeds to be more annoyed that controlling shadows is way more difficult now than by the fact that Fire country is very close to being a desert now.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In a dying world, where the once great Elemental nations are mostly dust and a few, slowly dying trees around water holes. The fighting has long since died down in favor of simple survival and customs of hospitality around water holes have sprung up generations ago and are sacred. Most of the survivors are descendants of the shinobi villages and clans, those who were best able to survive the devastation and the fighting that followed many generations ago. There are isolated pockets where humans do better, where technology survived, where progress manages to hold back the slow erosion of natural resources, but most areas are scrub-land at best. Most knowledge of jutsus has died out as well, beyond the small, simple ones most geared to aiding day to day survival.

His name is Ryuhiko Shimura. It takes him a while to understand that it’s his name; it takes him longer to understand why the name feels itchy and _wrong_. His mother is Aoi Shimura, one of the last of the Shimura clan, which has long since scattered. She is gentle and kind, a widow who tends a small garden near one of the rare springs left in Fire country. The spring serves more than them, of course, there’s an entire _(if tiny)_ dusty village that it supports.

_Once upon a time, his name was Shikaku Nara and the name ‘Shimura’ meant betrayal to him as he died._

Aoi’s husband was a distant cousin, another Shimura, and it’s a tossup as to whether the villagers are using her maiden or married name when speaking to her, since they’re identical. Ryu is around five when he realizes that the distinction is only vague when it comes to his mother. When they’re addressing _him_, they’re using her maiden name. He should possibly be grateful that they don’t do it with malice in mind, since his father…well, let’s just say it wasn’t Aoi’s then-recently deceased husband and he’d broken the rules of hospitality to spawn Ryu on her.

_Once he’d been a Clan head, with a beautiful wife and a brilliant son, not the bastard of a rapist who forced himself on the remnant of a clan once headed by a traitor._

Well, not that Ryu really cares, to be quite honest. Ninjas might not be a ‘thing’ any more, however many centuries later this is, but he’s not fool enough to let his former skills stay as vague memory, because he knows full well how useful those skills are. What bothers him a great deal more is how much more difficult it is this time around to manipulate shadows. There’s obviously not a drop of Nara blood in his veins, given how much trouble he has with it. Now, mind you, he’s _five_, but he has an _envious_ amount of chakra for his age, so he shouldn’t be having any issues with it beyond the normal. Yet… Well, if he were any less stubborn, he’d have given it up as a lost cause by now. _It’s hard! The effort involved almost entirely defeats the purpose of being an (ex-)Nara!_

Huffily, he leans against the scrawny, droopy apple tree his mother tends carefully. It does produce a few, very tasty apples every year, but the poor thing is just…unhealthy. Climate change is a bitch. Most plants aren’t very happy despite tender care. The poor, poor things. The tree gives an ominous creak, but Ryu stubbornly doesn’t move, well aware that the tree isn’t so badly off that his slight weight is going to break it. More creaking occurs, and a surprising amount of rustling of leaves, enough that he finally looks up in curiosity and his eyes go wide in disbelief.

_No. It can’t be._

But it is. The tree is now several feet taller, its trunk thicker, and its branches are fuller, not to mention covered in healthy foliage and emerging fruit.

_Huh. Troublesome._

~

Sadly, he’s not so lazy as to entirely avoid using Mokuton simply because doing so might prove a hassle to him. So he sneaks around in the late evenings and encourages the trees in the village one at a time. _Honestly, it’s no harder than feeding the deer treats used to be. The trees respond to emotions, or more likely the Mokuton responds to emotions and reaches out in response. Whatever. He still misses the deer._

When the trees are all thriving, much to the villagers’ wonder and delight, he moves on to doing the same for bushes, again, one at a time. As a plus, there’s some hilarious theories going around and no one has any clue that it’s his doing; he plans to keep it that way. Doing the bushes takes longer. Not just because there’s more of them, but because the villagers are curious now and it’s hard to dodge their attention long enough to do the work. Mokuton itself is fairly easy and quick, so he mostly focuses on subtlety with it so he’s not noticed. When he uses it. Mostly, he works on regaining the basics of shadow manipulation. He _almost has it_ when he has a growth spurt, his chakra pool grows in response, and he loses most of his progress almost overnight.

_Oh_.

His mother is more than a little puzzled when he spends the next two weeks moping for no apparent reason.

_Because he should have known. His problem is chakra control, and has been all along. He has memories of having good control with this much chakra, so it never occurred to him that he had been an adult at the time, and for a child his chakra pool is not merely enviable but nearly insane in size for someone who is not a jinchuuriki. After double checking to assure himself that he is not somehow secretly a jinchuuriki, he concludes that it must be a part of having the Mokuton._

This, of course, doesn’t _change_ his determination to relearn his shadow jutsus, but it does alter how he goes about doing the basic training for it. Instead of doing the simplest, least chakra intensive exercises meant for young children, he starts training _(out of sight of the village, because he’s not stupid even if he’s no longer a Nara)_ in full sun where there’s no shadow to start with and using the chakra intense techniques of _creating shadow_ and then manipulating it. This tactic is met with _overwhelming success_, and after playing with it for an hour or two, he collapses into relieved laughter for a few minutes.

He may have to wait until his chakra coils aren’t growing so quickly, until he’s into his late twenties even, to regain control over the most delicate techniques, but he’ll have no problem at all with the brute techniques or defending himself. Which had been a real worry, given that this tiny village is civilian and the world at large doesn’t really have ninjas any more. He’s done the training he _could_ of course, but it’s limited by lack of tools and a need to not convince the villagers that he’s insane or bloodthirsty. Chakra use is still around, mostly water jutsus. Using them is certainly not looked down upon, is even encouraged, so he’s been able to practice around his mother and simply get an amused, doting look. She’s promised to teach him a few Nature Transformation jutsus like the one she uses to water her garden when he’s older. And she’s definitely not the only adult in the village who knows several low level jutsus that are amazingly useful to daily survival.

Ryu rolls over, enjoying the texture of soft grass, then blinks. Grass? He’d picked the most barren area possible that is close enough to the village that his mom won’t freak over finding him in if she comes looking. There definitely had not been grass here.

Looking around, his eyes widen in shock. The grass right around him is thick and luxurious, but everywhere his shadows had touched as he practiced there is the beginnings of plant life determinedly poking through the fine dust and cracked soil.

_Oops._

He suddenly gets, viscerally, why people had once coveted this power to the point of madness and many lives pointlessly lost. This...really isn’t a power a human should have. It’s something more suited to a kami. And a kami, he definitely is not. Ryu has hidden his Mokuton because it’s troublesome and he definitely does not want to be the center of attention, but this… He looks beyond the rough circle of green the size of a meadow and bites his lip. This could endanger his mother and the villagers. Even if he were his former self, full grown and fully trained, he could not protect all of them and… Right now, he is just a child, his discipline and abilities abysmal in comparison to the man he once was. His mouth twists in self-derision.

_He needs a plan._

~

It turns out that he doesn’t need a plan.

Yoshi ojiisan _(unrelated, Ryu is happy to say)_, who makes liquor out of things he _really shouldn’t_, starts telling anyone who will listen about mysterious lights and a woman with _‘hair like fire, down to her toes, wearing a green dress of leaves and vines, and with golden eyes and golden antlers that drip silver fire, and sandals made of purple feathers’_. Apparently the mysterious lights indicate her presence, and she restores the land where she walks or does rituals.

None of the locals believe him, of course, but there’s no readily available _better_ theory and it makes for a good story. So they play along when travelers come through and ask about the unexpected greenery, assuring them that the tale is true without outright _saying_ it’s true.

The tiny village gains the name of Green Kami as those travelers gradually spread the tale, embroidering it as they go.

Ryu adds henge and kage bunshin to his regular practice and finds that if he has several clones in existence, he has a few hours of improved chakra control until his body restores the lost chakra in full. He learns how to use bits of shadow jutsu as something of a delay timer for his Mokuton. The shadow clones are also good for feeding the tales Yoshi ojiisan started up, letting him green up spots while he’s conspicuously nowhere near those spots. _It’s always good to have an alibi, after all._

Sometimes seeds planted from fruit bought in Green Kami mysteriously grow several seasons worth of growth overnight before slowing to normal if particularly sturdy growth. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it, other than it only happens with _honest _merchants, which furthers tales of the green kami. Tales that both excite greed and ward off the greedy for the most part. Kami have mostly forsaken the world, after all, so no one wants to scare _this_ one off. Or worse, tangle with her temper should they overstep too badly.

~

Ryuhiko is nine when Aoi remarries, to Taki ojisan _(not related)_, a nice enough villager who wants children of his own. This is _fine_, but he takes to spending nights outdoors because he _does not_ want to listen to his mother having sex. Taki sells his place to a young couple wanting a place of their own and moves in with Aoi and Ryu. Understandably, since Aoi’s property is far more productive, having been Ryu’s home his entire life, but more notably since he’s awakened the Mokuton. They use the extra money to build onto the tiny house, adding a room for him and a room for the baby they plan to have. He still spends most of his nights outdoors, but he is grateful for the thought they put into it, at least.

He spends all his free time collecting seeds and spreading more growth around the village. Now it stretches for several miles in all directions and remnants of wildlife have started to move in to seek shelter. The more common and useful seeds he takes to swapping with traders for seeds or cuttings of plants from other areas. The most immediately useful of these is a cutting of bamboo, and he establishes a small grove of it in an out of the way area and uses it to make containers for his seeds. In addition, he manages to get his hands on a nice set of travel packs and several precious storage scrolls. Some experimentation proves that while scrolls aren’t good at keeping things alive, his mokuton shadow timer jutsu wrapped around ordinary seeds and cuttings preserves them neatly within the scrolls, and seeds from plants grown by mokuton don’t even need that bit of extra protection. Because he is a cautious soul, Ryu uses _both_ methods on all his stored seeds and cuttings.

During winter, he uses the cover of snow to sneak some plantings of the most valuable plants into individual gardens or edges of properties claimed by various villagers. They’ll need the extra prosperity to stay on even ground with the new people, who are tentatively immigrating to Green Kami and moving into the reclaimed lands.

Spring brings with it bandits, and it’s just their misfortune that Ryuhiko happens to be nearby when they attempt to attack. There is now a new and ominously _healthy_ patch of extreme thorny salmonberries that greets newcomers and travelers where the highway and the village meet. The bandits die via being speared by aggressive vines and then are dragged below the soil as fertilizer under the shocked gazes of the villagers. At that point, Ryu utilizes a henged clone to have the ‘kami’ visibly pat the vines and give them an extra boost of mokuton as a reward as ‘she’ disappears under their awed stares.

Ryu is satisfied with his work, because word travels even faster than the traders that attacking Green Kami is a sure way to arouse the wrath of the kami who lives there. He has done what he can to ensure the village’s safety.

He starts talking to his mother and Taki about apprenticing to a merchant, or traveling with one to a larger village to seek another sort of apprenticeship. Aoi thinks being a trader is a good idea, while Taki thinks seeking a different sort of apprenticeship may benefit him more. He shows his parents _(he can accept Taki as a stepfather because the man obviously doesn’t resent him)_ the travel packs, the seeds in sections of bamboo _(apples, beets, red rice, sour plum and a couple others that are no drain on the village for him to take)_ and the storage scroll for his clothes.

Although he most certainly does _not_ show them the storage scrolls full of seeds in little bamboo containers, because they’re much safer not knowing about his Mokuton. Those…well he’ll need a better way to carry them, because the seeds in his pack are decoys as much as anything. He definitely doesn’t want a thief getting their hands on a seed scroll.

They agree that it’s a smart idea and help him fill his pack with other tradeable items. It’s useful. Gives him more camouflage for his real intentions. Taki helps him arrange a short term apprenticeship with one of the better merchants that frequents their village, and in mid-summer, he leaves Green Kami behind.


	2. The Village of Jujubes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryu encounters a village in its death throws. It has jujube bushes. A dust storm happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Magoichi- merchant/trader Ryu is apprenticed to  
Aato- the cook for Magoichi's small merchant caravan.

Ryu had forgotten how dull and faded the village had been before he’d started using mokuton until he starts visiting other small villages with the trader he’s apprenticed to. It is…appalling, for lack of a better word. It’s as if they’re visibly withering around the edges. The luckier ones have a visible patch or two of green where seeds from produce from Green Kami in the past couple years have been planted. The mokuton boosted plants are far more vigorous and hardy than their ordinary cousins.

It’s not as if he can help them all, or even that he _wants_ to, but it makes him sick to see half-starved children. So he feeds the various mokuton patches encouragement by way of bits of his chakra, and makes sure to lean against a handy fruit tree or three when they stop at a village, if possible. There’s only so much he can do, after all, without making the villagers or the merchant suspicious.

_He used to be a jounin commander; he knows all too well what can happen to kids with too much to offer. It’s rarely pretty. He has no intention of becoming just another victim._

Since he can’t practice his shadow jutsus around the merchant caravan, he practices the water jutsus his mother had finally taught him a few weeks before he left. He struggles with them, honestly. Water is a very different nature transformation than the Yin release shadow jutsus. Unsurprisingly, filling buckets with water for the oxen that pull the carts is easier than the gentle spray of moisture that’s used for watering gardens. Fine control is definitely not going to be in his repertoire any time soon.

“Ryuhiko-kun.”

Startled, he loses control and overpowers the watering jutsu _yet again_, this time to a spectacular degree and ends up with impromptu rainfall the size of a couple meadows for a few moments. He sputters, shuts the jutsu down, sighs, and wipes the worst of the water off his face and hair with his hands. “Magoichi sensei?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. But I wanted to talk to you about that jutsu. The next village we’ll be stopping off is really bad off because their well dried up a few seasons back and their reservoir hasn’t caught enough rain. Your jutsu creates water instead of borrowing it, right?”

Ryu stares at him for a long moment, then facepalms. “So _that’s_ what I’ve been doing wrong. Mom said I was doing it strangely, but she didn’t know why it was strange.”

Magoichi chuckles. “Sometimes ‘strange’ is better. Would you be willing to provide water to the villagers while we are there? They probably can’t afford to repay you in any manner, but…well. I’ll give you a sample of those petunia seeds you’ve been drooling over, for your trouble.”

“Deal.” He says instantly. The seeds are for some noble client, and even a tiny sample of them is worth quite a bit, given that they are considered an exotic flower. It’s not as if he’ll have trouble getting them to grow, after all.

~

The village is a travesty.

It’s immediately apparent that everyone who had the means to move elsewhere already has and everyone else is just shuffling through the motions of survival until they die of starvation or thirst. The struggling patches of jujube are probably the only reason that they’re still hanging on. Ryu doesn’t even wait for the greetings between villagers and Magoichi to be finished, simply walks over and starts watering each patch. Here it doesn’t matter that his technique is so rough as to be laughable. Jujube bushes are tough.

A dust storm kicks up as he’s finishing up watering, and it gets nasty in a hurry. He only gets maybe half a dozen buckets filled before they’re all forced to retreat indoors to wait it out.

Ryu sulks for a while, because the dust storms are bad enough with a few miles of greenery to slow them down. He’d forgotten how unspeakable they are _without_ anything to help block them. That aside, it doesn’t take long for the sulking to turn into boredom, and renewed concern for the villagers. They look like walking skeletons almost, and those are the chubbier ones.

_Ugh. Troublesome._

It finally occurs to him that the dust storm is _perfect_. He takes advantage of the cracks in the walls to slither a shadow outside and then use the shadow the storm provides to extend it in all directions as far as he can manage, holding it for a few minutes, as long as he can manage before fatigue starts creeping up on him, then wisely withdrawing the jutsu before he gives himself chakra exhaustion. _That_ would be a little too suspicious under the circumstances. Besides, he’ll need to provide more water while they’re here, and that’s a need that is even direr for these people.

~

Ryuhiko jolts, briefly spraying the room with water instead of filling the cooking pot, when the screaming outside starts up. The caravan cook gives him a dry look, then waves him off. “Go look. I’ll take care of it. It’s not as if this place couldn’t use a scrubbing anyways.”

“Thanks, Aato-san!” He throws over his shoulder, dashing for the door.

Outside, he pauses, because there is screaming and crying going on, but no apparent danger. One villager is rolling around in the dust. A couple are _hugging _particularly robust jujube trees. Others are dancing around like gleeful marionettes without strings. Another is sitting in the dust, petting the… _Oh. Grass._

Honestly, villagers back home had never reacted like this. The reaction is downright disturbing. Of course, Green Kami had never been in such dire straits before the ‘green kami’ started greening things up, either. So…

“Looks like your kami followed you, eh, boy?”

He twitches and looks up at Magoichi sensei. “I guess? Maybe she just likes traveling?”

“Hm. I suppose there’s a first time for everything. How about you water the oxen, then start filling buckets for the villagers?”

“Hai, sensei.”

Magoichi ruffles his hair, making him sigh in irritation. _(While the dark brown, fading to sun-bleached golden-brown where it’s longer, stuff is as gravity defying as in his previous life, it’s far silkier. It reminds him more of Kakashi’s disaster than the standard Nara spiky. It’s also a pain to untangle if someone musses it.)_

After filling all the buckets and pots and things brought to him to fill with water, he asks one of the kids to show him their reservoir. The sight of it makes him wince. Intended to be a small lake, the water in it comprises about a large puddle’s worth if one is generous. There’s enough bucket scrape-marks to make him wonder how high a percentage of the villagers’ water is comprised of mud.

Ryu shudders, because that is not a good thought, then thanks the kid and sends them back to the village. Eyeing the reservoir, he decides that it’s large enough to practice the watering jutsu on properly without causing waste if the jutsu goes awry, as it has a tendency to, and flops on a nice soft patch of dust so he can rest while he works.

He _does_ finally manage to get the jutsu to use existing water…but that just makes it rain mud, so he ends up going back to the version that creates water instead, which is actually _easier_. Getting the water drops down to anything smaller than heavy rain size is proving impossible, though. Ryu envies his mother’s ability to make a fine mist to water in seeds and water seedlings without washing them away. It’s unlikely that he’ll be able to do _that_ anytime soon. Which is too bad, since it would be very handy in pretending he’s just an ordinary person going around planting things.

_What a hassle._

After a couple hours, he gives up for the day. It takes a surprising amount of time to fill something the size of a small lake, and he’s _starving_. Growing boys need their food, particularly ones who use this much chakra. Besides, since his coils are still growing, there _is_ a limit to how much chakra he should use in one sitting unless he wants to cause permanent damage to himself. Even now he can feel the slight ache of _almost too much_.

After eating and taking a well-deserved nap, he wanders around. Idly, he notes that the range of his shadows was about doubled by using the storm’s shadow, but the extra reach has weakened the effect of the Mokuton. The thin carpet of dust drenched green appears to have only about a week’s worth of growth, which…quite honestly is a good thing, since it means that the villagers won’t kill themselves trying to eat a sudden abundance of food. Recovery from starvation is tricky like that. At least drinking too much water will probably just result in throwing up a few times until they learn to moderate their intake to what their bodies can handle. The jujubes are producing abundantly, having practically doubled in size overnight, but that’s really the _only_ thing ready to eat, so if they gorge on them they won’t have enough to last until the quicker growing other food stuffs are ready to eat.

He makes a mental note to leave a couple henged clones behind to encourage the notion that _he_ had nothing to do with the transformation, and to add a mokuton boost to a few patches of things that should be safe to add to the villagers’ diet in the near future.

~

Magoichi, trader extraordinaire and absolutely _not_ a soft touch for people dying of thirst and starvation, is of the opinion that young Ryuhiko knows a lot more about why the green kami decided to bless _this_ particular village overnight than he lets on. Not that he blames the boy for his caution. Even acolytes of kamis are not immune to the greed of those who prey on the weak.

He still remembers vividly the first time he cut open an apple from Green Kami for a snack and promptly dropped half of it as the seeds writhed like worms, then grew roots and planted themselves where the apple half had come to rest, and proceeded to grow a couple feet in height _as he watched._ That had been…startling. _The apple tree is the pride of a nameless village several days journey from Green Kami._ Since then he’s been cautious of taking things that originate in Green Kami at face value. Sometimes they’re normal. And sometimes they are…well, _not_.

Ryuhiko rather falls under the _‘not’_, to his mind. The boy is certainly not the only person from the village who trades for seeds, for instance, but he had been the first, and certainly the most consistent. He’d been _young_ for it, too, when he started. And he generally made an effort to not display his trades to the other villagers. This wouldn’t have been of note, particularly, if later trades of the same items had come from him or his mother, but well over half of them have shown up as exclusive to some _other_ villager. Or as communal _‘finds’_ from the growing patches of green beyond the borders of the village proper. Moreover, while the brat isn’t particularly a _selfish_ person, overt generosity isn’t really in his personality, which simply increases Magoichi’s suspicion.

Being asked to apprentice the child for six months is no hardship. He works hard at the tasks he’s given, and is quick to learn. Also, easy to bribe with a few seeds, as long as they aren’t ones he already has an abundance of. Seeds are a small but vital portion of his trade empire, given how hard the past centuries of desertification have been on the Elemental nations. Learning that the boy has a couple fledgling water jutsus to his name is just a bonus. Magoichi honestly wishes _he_ had some. The couple fire jutsus he knows _are_ invaluable to him as a trader, but water jutsus would be even more useful.

Most who know water jutsus are too valued by their villages to take to travel. Even the ones like the boy’s mother, who can only use water from an existing source for their jutsus. Ones like Ryuhiko, who can _create_ water with a jutsu can literally be the difference between life and death for a village, and are treated with care so that they _stay_.

Then again, most people aren’t acolytes of kamis with a yen for travel, as Ryuhiko had implied.

Still, Magoichi hopes that Ryuhiko will find being a merchant to his taste and remain an associate. Not only is a traveling user of water jutsus rare and invaluable, but Magoichi is more than a little tickled by the notion that the green kami plans to spread her influence in the wake of her young disciple.

No, he can’t blame the boy at all for his secrecy. Not when letting it be known could endanger his kami’s plans, not to mention his life and freedom. So Magoichi does his part in recounting tales of the green kami and mentioning casually a few times that it seems like she’s taken to traveling to find those worthy of her gift. Because the boy isn’t half as sneaky as he thinks he is, and a few more layers of deflection can only be to the good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I…still have no idea.
> 
> The ‘green kami’ probably needs a name. (sighs) Suggestions?
> 
> Ryuhiko Shimura- Shikaku Nara in his past life. He has dark brown, gravity defying hair that lightens to golden brown where the sun has bleached it. Generally he uses a cloth strip to hold it back, resulting in a very Kakashi-like style. Thick, dark brows and eyelashes. His eyes are med-dark grey with black rims. His most visible similarity to his past self is a slightly baby-faced look that he’ll never entirely shed, but doesn’t particularly bother him. Shimura is his mother’s maiden name (also the surname of her first husband), and I’m undecided as to whether he’ll keep it for her sake or eventually drop it.


	3. Lotus, Rock Spinach, and Sora-ku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryu finds lotus, copies maps, plots against rock spinach, and is deeply traumatized by Sora-ku.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm behind on answering comments. I'll catch up, I swear.  
Also, currently too lazy to give the ox cart drivers names.

Magoichi sensei takes one look at the amount of food he’s taken for his third serving and raises a brow. “You said you were refilling their reservoir?”

He nods and swallows. “Yeah. Should take a couple more days if I do the same amount as today.”

“Take longer. You’re pushing yourself, aren’t you? We can stay a few more days without problem.” He gives Ryu a knowing look.

Ryu hunches his shoulders. “Okay.”

It’s not, really. He knows for a fact that Magoichi sensei is delaying his travel timetable, but he also knows that it’s the man’s choice to give this village charity at his own expense. Ryu’s being _paid_ for this; no one is paying Magoichi. Not that he resents the command. On the contrary, it gives him time to search the area for more cuttings and seeds. Beyond jujube, that is, because he’s definitely taking some of those. For all the variety he’s gathered around his home village, he’s _painfully_ aware of how many once-common species are _not_ in that variety, and he can only hope that the rarer species, almost all of which he is missing, are not entirely extinct.

_While, as Shikaku, he had been neither a researcher nor a plant specialist, it was fortunate that he had been Clan head and thus required to know enough to review and approve or deny the results of the medical formulations his clan’s researchers had come up with. Despite his personal lack of interest, Shikaku had an almost encyclopedic (for his time) knowledge of botany and some related fields. And of course, being best friends with Inoichi and Chouza just meant that he knew how to say everything from ‘I will love you eternally’ to ‘Die and burn in hell forever’ in flower language, and how to properly prepare at least sixteen nutritious and perfectly innocuous meals that can be prepared from poisonous plants. (This was not recommended for amateurs, since one step done improperly could result in a positively lethal repast instead.)_

Death and rebirth notwithstanding, the knowledge now serves Ryu well. Since he knows the habitats that most of the plants are _supposed_ to be found in, he knows where to reintroduce plants in environs that have missing chunks in their ecology. He’ll undoubtedly be leaving more variety than he’ll be harvesting from this area, but that doesn’t really bother him. The fewer environs a plant is found in, the more susceptible to permanent eradication it is, after all. Given the current large-scale mess of an environment, more localities having a greater range of species is definitely more useful than hoarding for his own potential gain.

~

On day three, Ryu discovers, improbably, that the reservoir has lotus growing in it. Most likely from seeds, since he doubts that any of the roots would have gone uneaten given the villagers’ level of starvation. Though quite honestly he’s surprised even a few seeds managed to escape. Perhaps they are older seeds, from years before this latest, devastating drought, or perhaps brought in by the wind or birds. Not that it matters, of course. What matters is that they are here.

Not only are they a good food source and useful for medicine, but they should slow evaporation. He gives them an extra nudge with mokuton, because he wants to take some samples with him. These are larger and a different shade than the ones from back home.

The rest of the time they spend in the village, when he’s not filling the reservoir, he’s out gathering seeds and cuttings or slyly adding to the admittedly thin local variety. This area has been too dry, too long and many things have died out entirely.

Sadly, he cannot control the weather. He knows that if the drought continues a few more years, his work will be wasted. But he refuses to regret the effort even if that turns out to be the case. Just because humans are born to die doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t give them the chance at a few more years. Who knows? Maybe they’ll find a way to move to a more stable area in the meantime.

At least the ones who survive that long. He has no illusions that even with his intervention and Magoichi’s generosity that all the current villagers will recover from their current state. A few of the frailest are beyond saving, even though they’re still breathing. Perhaps he should be ashamed of it, but he’ll be glad when they leave this village behind for the next on their route.

~

Traveling is kind of boring. There’s not much to see beyond the endless sameness of mostly bare dirt and a few scrubby plants. Ryu does learn a lot, though.

Magoichi likes to talk, and has a knack for sharp insights hidden in innocent commentary. He shows Ryu the current maps of the Elemental Nations and the main trade routes, with notes on smaller villages and roads drawn in by hand; he even allows Ryu to make his own copies when they pause to camp in the evenings.

He learns, for instance, that Konoha and the other Hidden Villages still exist, not so much as military powers as economic strongholds now. Having a higher percent of populace able to use jutsus had made and continues to make a difference. Konoha is _smaller_ and butted up against all sides of the former Forest of Death, now called the Great Forest for some reason, but it’s now the actual _capital_ of Fire country. Which is weird. _Plausible given that the Daimyo’s wife had practically lived there when he had been Shikaku, but weird_.

At least it gives him hope that Mokuton enhanced plant life is much hardier than ordinary vegetation. If so, then perhaps he won’t need to constantly revisit areas he’s revived to give them extra mokuton boosts.

Ryu also learns that Kumo has become famous for their export of an artificially bred green called Rock Spinach, which apparently looks more like moss and tastes like celery. _(Although he assumes that this is about on par with Suna claiming that snake tastes like chicken. And Kusa claiming that one kind of shelf mushroom tastes like chicken. Apparently some people think **everything** tastes like chicken, and he’ll just keep his own opinions on the matter to himself, because whatever lights their tinder and all that.)_ He does make a mental note to see if he can get ahold of some of the Rock Spinach stuff and see if he can get it to grow without human intervention or if it’s one of those things that can only survive with the help of special jutsus. Even if it’s the latter, well, there’s undoubtedly some plant specialist somewhere who will be thrilled to have a rooted sample and figure out the jutsus needed for it. And if it’s the former…eh, monopolies are made to be broken.

~

Magoichi looks uncomfortable, and finally sighs before speaking. “Ryuhito-kun, in the next city you need to be very careful. Don’t go more than five strides from the carts. Don’t talk to the residents if you can avoid it. If you decide to trade, don’t trade your seeds. And whatever you do, don’t let them know you can use chakra for jutsus.”

Ryu gives him a startled look. He remembers the village as a city with a somewhat shady reputation, but apparently it’s gotten worse by a fair stretch to warrant that warning. “Will we be staying there long?”

“No. Three hours, and we’ll time it around noon. Passing through without stopping is likely to get a very hostile response, but staying longer will just give them more opportunity to steal us blind. While I don’t expect you to hide in a wagon, I quite honestly wouldn’t blame you if you wish to. I’ve never lost a person here, but it’s been close a few times and other trade caravans _have_ lost members to their greed.” Magoichi grimaces. “Quite a number of children from poor families ‘get lost’ or are sold here. It’s far from a nice place. Even the rich and powerful walk carefully here when they come for entertainment. You’ll see some who look almost as bad off as that village with the jujubes, but don’t let your sympathy fool you into giving aid. I wish I could say I can protect you if you do fall for it, but…even shinobi clans keep their young far from this place for fear of losing them.”

He blinks a few times at that. “Shinobi?”

“You’ve never heard of the ninja clans? I’m surprised, given that your last name is Shimura. Most people nowadays have some connection to the old clans by blood, but most of them aren’t close enough to bear their name still.”

“Uh. I thought they were…extinct?” He asks tentatively.

“Oh. No, of course not. There’s _fewer_ clans now, because a lot of them went civilian or all ended up marrying civilians. And the clans are _smaller_ than they used to be. But there’s definitely still some work for them, even if it’s mostly working as guards for the well-off and nobles. And some aspects of technology research, too. Though you won’t run into the ones who do that, much. Sometimes you’ll come across extermination squads sent out after bandits who’ve made too much of a nuisance of themselves. Usually only if they inconvenience nobles or one of the major trade routes, though.” Magoichi grimaces. “I’ve had to barter for protection a few times, and let me tell you, it is _not_ cheap in any sense of the word. Even if they are very thorough about it. It’s better to go with protection from the larger countries if you can. The smaller ones generally prefer to act as caravan guards rather than exterminating the problem.”

Ryu bites his lip. Hearing a civilian speak that way is…odd. “Exterminating?”

“What else can we do? Unlike your village, most of the world isn’t graced with your goddess’ blessing and food sources shrink by the year. There’s literally nowhere for most of them to go, even if we were in the business of charity for criminals.” Magoichi pauses and gives Ryu a long, considering look. “Maybe you can pray to your kami to have mercy on them, but as far as I know, she’s not real fond of dishonesty and bandits.”

He winces. _There is that. And changing that reputation would probably be a poor idea. _“Yes, sensei.”

~

Sora-ku is…pretty much what you’d expect from an abandoned city of skyscrapers that was then occupied by black marketeers for the next three hundred years more or less. Close to the road it’s a dump except for a couple notably well maintained streets leading obviously maintained buildings in the distance. Some buildings are so derelict that they’re evidently just waiting for a gnat to sneeze on them so they can finish falling down and be done with it. Some areas of the city just look _empty_ from the road, as if time and neglect has already eaten portions of it. He suspects, though, that most of those spaces are intentional. They look a little too symmetrical to be natural.

Curiosity sparks in him. He wants to know what those ‘spaces’ actually hold. Unfortunately for his curiosity, he is neither suicidal nor inclined to end up as a slave in order to find out.

There really are skeletally thin people in the crowd that approaches to ‘trade’ and some of them try to con him into stepping into the crowd. Others just look desperate. The numbers pleading for ‘just one coin’ or ‘just something to eat’ is its own level of cringe. No doubt some of them actually _are_ being starved to death, but many of them have clothes just a _little too nice_ for verisimilitude, and he holds Magoichi sensei’s warnings firmly in mind.

There must be some local ordinance in place, though, because they don’t _actually _crowd the carts or step closer to grab. He sees one person stabbed and dragged back into the crowd out of sight for stepping over that invisible line in a place that doesn’t have them approaching Magoichi sensei directly. And while Magoichi normally lets them make their own small bargains if they like, this time he’s the _only_ one interacting with the crowd.

Now, he _hopes_ the kind man is making a real profit here, but the crowd has an undertone of _hungry_ that has nothing to do with the need for food, and he blows out a breath of relief when Magoichi signals that it’s time to pack up. Standing up from the tailgate of the cart, he has to step aside to let a couple of the carters place the vendor counter back in the cart, and inadvertently steps a bit too close to the crowd for comfort.

A bit too close _period_, because one of the starveling women, with desperation in her eyes, grabs his arm and shoves a bundle against his chest. His hands come up automatically to steady it, and she mouths, _“Please!”_ before melting back into the crowd. Simultaneously there’s a curse and a thud behind him, then he’s yanked by the other arm closer to the safety of the carts.

He’s hustled back into the cart, out of sight this time, and is too busy dodging getting squished as they shove the vendor stand in after him to bother trying to get a look at the bundle. Mostly, he’s surprised that no one grabs it and throws it back into the crowd. He can hear a slightly ominous murmur from the crowd, but then it dies down and the carts lurch into motion.

Ryu stays put, unwilling to complicate things further until they’re well past the border of the city. It’s a couple hours out before the carters slow the blowing oxen to a kinder pace and then to a temporary stop so things can be repacked properly from where they were thrown in haphazardly in their hurry to move out.

He’s stepping down from the cart to move to the one he has his travel packs in when the smell of urine assaults his nose and he looks down in dawning horror at the realization that there is dampness soaking through the bundle. Dread creeps up his spine as he unwraps the outer layer and looks down into a tiny, scrunched up face.

_“What the **fuck**!?”_

Aato leans around the cart and peers at what he’s looking at. “Oh. Yeah, that happens sometimes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As long as you don’t do that with invasive species, Shikaku|Ryu. Importing invasive species is _bad._
> 
> A healthy world literally has millions of varieties of plants. (How many of you knew that there’s actually _hundreds _of tomato varieties alone?) Even with as much as Ryu knows, there’s a lot he _doesn’t_ know, particularly the further from Konoha he goes.
> 
> *blowing oxen- Basically they’re breathing heavily from exertion, snorting out breath tends to happen
> 
> *move out- Dunno about elsewhere, but in the Old West ‘move ‘em out!’ was a call _(to the carters or cowboys)_ meant to get settler caravans or herds of cattle moving.
> 
> Congrats, Ryu. Instant parenthood. It’s a girl.
> 
> For clarity, Ryu is ten here.


	4. Baby, Plans, and Kami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryu has to decide what to do with the baby, plans are discussed, Suna is visited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not edited.
> 
> Does a kami start with belief, or does belief start with the kami?
> 
> Still behind on comments, but slowly catching up.

Ryu stares at Aato for a long moment, then steps away from the cart and gingerly peels away layers of grimy cloth away from the tot. The babe, a girl, is surprisingly clean with no sign of lice or other pests, to his relief. Her eyes are focused firmly enough on him to place her at least three months, or possibly older given her obvious condition of being underweight.

“She’s not going to survive. It might be kinder to just break her neck.” Magoichi observes over his shoulder.

He frowns and looks at her more critically. Magoichi sensei is right. Her chakra is a dim spark, too dim to sustain her for the length of time gradually, safely getting her weight up to normal would take. 

Still…

_If someone had told him to just break Shikamaru’s neck… _No, he can’t kill this child, whose mother desperately entrusted her to him.

“No. I want to try.”

Magoichi sighs. “I figured you’d say that. Here. You can’t keep her wrapped in that.”

Ryu blinks at the length of cheap cloth thrust in front of his nose. “I… Thank you, sensei.”

~

Milk is a luxury that simply is not available on the road, unfortunately, so Ryu ends up feeding the tiny girl a slurry of well-chewed bits of his own meals. He names her Aoyono. When he’s not busy watering oxen, or feeding and changing Aoyono, he spends most of his time over the next few days delicately tickling her chakra system with drops of his own chakra, something usually used in shinobi clans to kickstart a child’s ability to use chakra earlier than would naturally occur. He is somewhat delighted when his hypothesis proves true and it results in stimulating her fading spark of chakra into a steady, if small, candle-flame of life.

She is a quiet baby, barely fussing even when she’s soiled, only truly unhappy when not being held. Even then, she’s more the whimpering type than a screamer.

_It’s a true blessing. Kami knows that Shikamaru, for all his laziness after the age of two, had been an extremely noisy and finicky baby, with a temper that made Yoshino coo about how much her boy had taken after her. He can do without a repeat of that._

It’s not too hard to rig a sling that holds her snugly against his chest, leaving his hands free for the most part.

~

Aoyono has been with them a bit over a month when Magoichi sensei puts forth the suggestion to give her to a couple he knows, who have lost their own child and cannot have more. Ryu is a bit reluctant, but he knows very well that a life on the road is no good thing for a child as young as she is. She seems okay enough with it. Curious, if not particularly happy about the change of people holding her.

Until Ryu walks away, that is.

Then she starts wriggling with such verve that the poor mother almost drops her in surprise, reaching for Ryu and making distressed noises. When that doesn’t stop him from walking away, despite glancing over his shoulder in automatic worry, she proves she has lungs worthy of a pack of screaming fangirls. She wails so loudly that she startles the oxen, and Ryu misses a step and almost lands on his nose for his pains. He stares at her, willing her to stop.

_This is not what he expected._

Apparently Aoyono decides that merely wailing is not going to bring him back, so she breaks out heartbroken sobs and big tears, still doing her best to reach for him. He cannot bring himself to move away further while she sounds like this, but this _is_ what’s best for her, he knows, so he doesn’t move closer, either.

Ten minutes of heart wrenching crying and screams later, the couple exchange a rueful look and the father plucks the baby from the mother’s grasp and brings her over to Ryu. “We would love to have her, but it’s obvious that she already loves _you_. Children are good judges of character. You should keep her. I don’t think you’ll regret it.”

“I- Ow! Aoyono, that hurts! Let go!” In the end, he’s too busy trying to pry tiny hands off his face and throat, _because baby fingernails **hurt!**_, to answer the man before he chuckles and walks away. By the time he convinces Aoyono to settle for digging her hands into his vest instead of tender skin, the man and his wife have retreated out of earshot.

“You’re troublesome. You know that?” He tells Aoyono, who hiccups and makes an unhappy noise before laying her head against his chest, dampening his shirt with an unholy combination of snot, tears, drool and dust picked up by the light wind that has managed to imbed itself into the mess in this short amount of time. As if just to iterate her discontent at his attempt to leave her in an actual home with good parents, she hiccups again and spits up to add to the gross amalgamation. “I’m never going to get that out, am I?”

A snort makes him look up.

Magoichi sensei is regarding him drily. “You’re going to keep her, aren’t you? Despite knowing how much trouble it will be to keep both of you fed and clothed when you’re on your own.”

Ryu cringes. “Yeah.”

The man lets out a huff of amusement. “Well, I don’t mind extending your apprenticeship a couple more months. I wish… Well, there’s no changing it. I’ll be taking on my son and nephew for training after that, so I can’t keep you on longer. Have you decided what type of goods you want to trade and what routes you want to try?”

“That’s…generous of you.” Ryu says slowly, eyes wide, because it _really is_. The trader has been generous with him so far, but he never expected _this_ offer. “Thank you. I… I think the north routes through the small nations, possibly through Konoha and into Wind. Anywhere that doesn’t pass through Sora-ku to get to, actually. But, uh… I’m not really sure on what I should trade beyond seeds and fruits and some handicrafts? My travel packs only carry so much, and I can’t afford a cart and oxen.”

“Hm. A valid point. And Sora-ku is definitely a place to avoid when possible. I recommend a mule cart and either a mule or a pony to pull it. You’ll need at least a small cart as the little one grows and gets too big for you to carry.” Magoichi points out. “We’re headed to Wind, now, which may give you some idea of how you’d fare there. You may wish to wait until the babe is older, since the weather is particularly harsh there. On the other hand, you could easily settle there with your ability to use water jutsus. It would probably be best to purchase a cart and mule in Konoha where we’ll be spending more time, as I restock many of my goods there. Konoha has some strict quality regulations, so you’ll know that the construction won’t be shoddy.”

~

Wind country is…well, Wind country. Dry, stupidly hot, windy at inconvenient times which results in sandstorms or blowing grit. Scorpions, lizards, snakes, _bugs_. It’s a desert, and it does what deserts do best: idly try to snuff out puny humans that dare traverse its sands. Fortunately, it seems to be in a rather lackadaisical mood, so it’s more day to day tedium than deadly danger for most of the trip.

Suna is pretty much the same as he remembers, though in the course of centuries passing, some of the buildings have been replaced and some streets have been moved. Not that he as Shikaku had ever been particularly _familiar_ with Suna. And traveling merchants frequent somewhat different areas than foreign ninjas are allowed to.

One thing of interest, though, is that news of the ‘green kami’ has apparently made its way to Suna and gained a thriving foothold of belief. Several market stalls sell statuettes and engravings of the kami, much to Ryu’s amusement. He even purchases a finely made one fashioned of colored wire and tiny crystals for his mother. The likeness to Yoshi oji’s description is remarkable, and he knows that Aoi will enjoy such a pretty thing. As he pays for it, he mentions that he’s from Green Kami, which draws excitement and the information that Suna has actually erected a shrine to the green kami and has a name for her.

_Fumie-sama._

~

The shrine is different than expected. There is a life sized carving of varicolored stone that somehow manages to give an impression of life while still being unmistakably a statue. Small desert shrubs have been planted around the base of the statue. It stands near a small, public well, and there is a deliberate layer of soft sand over the packed ground that has seen obvious use for kneeling on.

Ryu sits, impressed at the amount of devotion that must have driven this, and wonders how he can green up Suna without making it obvious that he’s the one doing it. And also how he can do so with very few seeds or cuttings of desert plants to hand. He knows that planting groves of apple trees in the desert is probably just a sure way to have groves of dead trees in a year. That would somewhat…defeat the purpose of greening it up to begin with.

“Are you a follower of Fumie-sama?”

He blinks and looks up to see an old woman standing close, with a fistful of medallions on chains, ribbons, cords, and leather bands in one hand. _Yeah, no. That’d be like worshipping himself. _On the other hand… Saying ‘no’ would probably be suspicious given his position in front of the statue. “I…suppose?”

She gives an age-cracked chuckle at his answer. “Well, you might as well take one of these. My stupid husband insists on giving them out to any follower who visits the shrine. If nothing else, some of the other followers will give you discounts if they see you wearing one.”

_Well, he can’t pass that up, now can he?_

He chooses one that has delicately painted lacquer over a slightly stylized image and is attached to a braided leather cord so he can fasten it around his throat as a choker. Aoyono promptly grabs at it, prompting laughter from the old lady, and resulting in the gift of a second medallion, this one large enough for her to chew on without harming herself, and attached to a sturdy ribbon. She looks a little sulky at the substitution, eyeing his, but accepts it without fuss.

After that, he heads back towards the markets, determined to search them for suitable seeds to work with. As kind as it is of the old woman and her husband to hand out such gifts, he cannot simply accept that amount of charity. Not without doing something in return.

Ryu has been rather lax about gathering seeds in Wind, largely because he intends to do so at a later point in time when there aren’t eyes around to see the sudden change of landscape. Even devastated by climate change, Fire, Hot Water, Woods, and River are downright _lush_ countries in the comparable amount of green to be seen. _(Which means sudden patches of green are definitely **not** going to be overlooked by his fellow travelers. And he can only stretch the innocent ‘it couldn’t possibly be me’ act so far before suspicion will get him caught.)_ Not that he hasn’t gathered _some_, of course. Some low growing succulents, a couple interesting cacti types, wild gourds, locust tree, tomatillos, yucca and even pineapple from one oasis. But most of those aren’t things one would wish to grow in a public area of a city the size of Suna.

Surely the market has _something_ that isn’t full of thorns, prickles or poison. _Surely!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘green kami’- Called Fumie or Fumie-sama, usually the latter. Thought to be a woman with hair like fire, down to her toes, wearing a green dress of leaves and vines, and with golden eyes and golden antlers that drip silver fire, and sandals made of purple feathers. Mysterious lights supposedly give indication that she’s present or growing things.
> 
> Baby girl- Aoyono, approx. 4½ months when given to Ryu. Small for her age.  
Ryu is mostly feeding her meat and fruit. The former is the first recommended food at four months (_pureed_), with the latter being recommended to be added (_pureed or close to it_) to the diet a few weeks later.
> 
> Mules- crosses between donkeys and horses, infertile, usually superior speed and size to a donkey and superior strength and endurance to a horse. Generally portrayed as mean and stubborn.
> 
> While _Shikaku_ was familiar with the basics of desert plants poisonous vs edible, most of them don’t grow well in other areas, so he never had much interest in them and _Ryu_ is flailing a bit trying to dredge them out of neglected memory.  
  
_(Shikamaru, age 2: discovers clouds. His parents worry that he's sickening with something when outdoors for nearly a month until they realize he's just cloud watching.)_  
  
Magoichi logic: Do you know what this kid could _do_ for my trade route if I kept him on? But on the other hand, I can barely trust the boys not to ruin too many goods, I definitely can't train them when there's a baby in the mix. She'd get hurt and Ryuhiko would snap and the boy definitely could do a lot of damage even on accident, given the amount of chakra he apparently has, judging on his water jutsus.


	5. Seeds, Sandstorms, Spider, Flood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryu spreads seeds in Suna. Wind country decides to make them all miserable for leaving.

One thing he really needs, Ryu decides, shaping wet sand into misshapen little balls around seeds, is a home base. Magoichi sensei has one, he knows. A place to resupply, a place to keep his loved ones safe in his absence, a place to spend winters if they get too harsh for travel.

His needs are a little more complicated than Magoichi sensei’s though. Aoyono will be with him, and his parents don’t need the burden of feeding them through winters. Nor is Green Kami a particularly good place to use to grow his seed stocks without discovery. A place to store up extra goods would be handy as well. According to Magoichi sensei’s maps, Fire has vast tracts of uninhabited land now, open for those who would try to settle them. But takers are few and far between. Then there’s the requirement of a natural water source, so that his plants aren’t entirely reliant on him, and uninhabited places with water are extremely rare. He also needs a way to get there without leaving an obvious trail for the curious to follow, though with the dust storms that regularly sweep Fire that’s less of a worry, since the wind will sweep his tracks clean.

The little sand globes contain a mix of seeds. Low growing edible succulents, squash, lentils, melons, tiny wild peppers, and a type of grape that prefers the heat of the desert to moister climes. Certainly, the sand balls will fall apart on their own without extra care, but that is rather the point. He can drop them and walk away with no one the wiser, sand blending into sand. When they crumble, the seeds will be exposed and start their prodigious growth, by which time he won’t be anywhere near the spot.

Although, he supposes, living in or near a city might have its advantages as well. Green Kami would be a good place to stock up on handicrafts, for instance. Larger cities, such as Suna or Konoha, serve as trade nexuses, making them excellent places to obtain varied trade stock. Hiding in plain sight can be just as effective as avoiding civilization altogether.

Finishing up the sand balls, he starts on a much more limited number of rather cylinder-shaped ones, so they’re easy to tell apart. These contain seeds of dates, oranges, and olive trees.

It would, perhaps, be better to stay near a village or city while Aoyono is still young, due to growth spurts and access to medical care. Bad enough that they’d have to make due for those things while traveling trade routes, best not to have to worry about it in winter weather. On the other hand, places like Suna and Konoha have more _resources_ to check out unusual happenings, which sudden surges of plant life definitely fall under.

Troublesome.

~

It’s easy enough to make a second trip to the shrine, dropping a few sand cylinders next to houses as he goes, tossing a few more in a semi-circle behind the statue, then dropping sand balls in a semi-circle in front of the statue, and discretely placing a couple of each next to the shop of the old lady and her husband who had gifted the pendants to him and others. That uses up the last of the sand cylinders, but he has plenty of sand balls that he drops along the opposite side of the street as he returns to the market area.

Not above being a little shit, he wanders through the market, idly dropping the remaining sand balls next to merchants who give him good deals or have done so on previous days. Most have rented the specific stall space for at least a week or two, so he doesn’t have to worry about someone _mistakenly_ getting the reward. Unless, of course, it takes that long for some of the balls to disintegrate, but he highly doubts that will happen. Too many feet grace the area for someone to _not_ accidentally kick them apart or break them by stepping on them within a few days. Even if he’s wrong, eventually one of the brief, seasonal desert rainsqualls will free the seeds to burst into growth. Which, really, is _more_ the purpose than rewarding the merchants. _Rewarding them would be nice, but…_well, he really doesn’t want to be connected with the sudden appearance of plantlife where none was before.

Though, he _does_ wonder what Suna’s reaction to them will be. Will they leave them be? Or transplant them to city gardens? Or allow the merchants to transplant them to their own gardens?

Any or all of those would work. The only thing he’d _have an objection to_ is if they decide to destroy them, but he’s fairly sure that Suna values things that grow too much to be _that foolish_.

~

The desert, for all that it was calm on the way into Wind, apparently has a massive objection to them _leaving_ Wind. A day and a half out of Suna, a nasty sandstorm picks up to the point they have to strap tarps over the goods inside the wagons and remove the oiled canvas covers so the wind doesn’t tip the carts over or worse. The covers are strapped down over the wind-side base and wheels of the carts, to provide a windbreak for the oxen, which are coaxed into laying down in the lee of the carts. And a large, heavy canvas is used to make a lean-to on the lee-side for the humans to hunker down under until the storm blows itself out.

Ryu’s main contribution to this is to stay out of the way, back to the wind, keeping Aoyono protectively covered in his arms.

The roar of the storm is deafening, even under cover. Even shouting is almost impossible to hear. And despite the canvas and carts, the sand gets in _everywhere_. Even with the face covers Magoichi hands out, Ryu feels like he’s breathing sand.

He has no clue how many hours pass before the wind slacks, but even when the wind dies to gusty whispers, there’s no light to be seen, so he assumes that it is nighttime and lets himself fall asleep. With a much deeper appreciation of the ingenuity of civilians in the face of nature’s whimsy.

~

Ryu attempts to roll over because _mornings, ugh_ and finds that he can’t move. At all. Grudgingly curious, he opens his eyes and sees a spider bigger than both his hands put together _(granted, he’s 10, but)_ staring at him from less than a foot away.

He reflexively uses his shadow jutsu to pin it in place. And maybe, just a little, shrieks loud enough to raise the dead and proceeds to have a panic attack that has Aoyono, startled awake, making unhappy querying noises. It’s fully justified; he’s not one bit ashamed of his reaction to waking to find that an arachnid has decided that he’s a tasty breakfast.

Daichi, one of the drovers, uses his work knife to stab the spider and carry it out for Magoichi to dispose of by setting fire to it.

This, however, does not mean that he is promptly freed. _Apparently_, the heavy webbing of this particular species of spider is known as desert silk and is a rare and exquisite cloth, selling for high prices, so they make him stay put as they remove it in six inch strips. Which they then carefully roll up to sell as trim for clothes for wealthy nobles. He refuses to speak to any of them for the rest of the morning. 

_Sadistic assholes._

~

The next week is plagued with intermittent, sand-laden winds but not true sandstorms. Ryu has to keep poor Aoyono wrapped up like a cabbage to keep the sand out of terribly uncomfortable places. The rest of them resign themselves to gritting their teeth and continuing on. Even though he wears the desert headgear and spends most of the time inside the relative shelter of the wagons, he keeps finding sand in his _teeth_. Among other unpleasant places.

The desert finally seems to bore of sending wind at them, and they gradually taper off as the landscape changes a bit, so the road cuts across numerous shallow arroyos. Magoichi insists on the wagons crossing each arroyo one at a time, ‘to limit damages’. Which probably has to do with flash floods, but seems a little paranoid to him.

He doesn’t really _object_ to it, of course. Safety first and all that. Even one cart lost or damaged would be a big blow to a merchant like Magoichi.

Still. Ryu doesn’t really understand the full extent of the danger until two or three days later, when they are crossing the ninth mini-canyon of the trip. Magoichi and the drovers have been twitchier since early this morning, when they’d heard the faint rumble of thunder in the far distance for an hour or two. For instance, the drovers currently _not_ crossing the arroyo on either side, have their wagons drawn further from the edge than normal while waiting for the one currently crossing to finish. Three of the five wagons have crossed successfully, and he’s sitting beside the drover of the fourth wagon, holding Aoyono as they cross. A faint rumble has the drover, Kazuki, looking up, then cursing and cracking the whip, urging the oxen to lean more heavily into their harnesses, jolting the cart into a faster pace. He grabs for a better hold and plants his feet so he quits sliding, and in those few seconds, the rumble grows to a rapidly approaching roar.

Curious, Ryu looks up and sees a wall of raging water, higher than a full-grown Akamichi in height, coming for them at the speed of a freight train. Even at the reckless speed the cart is lurching forward at, they are _not going to make it_. The water, split second calculation informs him, will catch up to them about the time the oxen start to get clear, but the cart will not and neither will her occupants. Not only that, but the force of the impact will doubtlessly drag the oxen back and into the frothing water while overturning the cart, even as massively heavy as it is.

Desperation has him using his- _no, not his, his mother’s_\- watering jutsu, the one that had caused it to rain mud the sole time he’d used it before, not to _block_ the oncoming flood, but to use solely the portion that was going to _decimate them_ as the source of it.

_The result is something like trying to channel a lake through a child’s straw. No matter the quality of the straw, it will be mere moments before the straw bends or breaks under the pressure, the water it does manage to channel spewing far further than normal._

Ryu has no idea how far the silt-laden water spews as muddy rain, but some part of him notes that it must be at least twice as far as normal. The rest of him is busy holding onto the jutsu and not falling off the cart and fighting to keep the jutsu focused _just there_ until the cart jolts free of the danger _just enough_ and he can let go. He sways woozily, hearing voices above the rumble-roar of the water, but not understanding what they’re saying, and then hands are on him, lowering him to safety. And _oh_, the cart’s stopped and he’s on strangely muddy ground, but he can’t really bring himself to care because _they’re safe_. Well, that and he’s losing consciousness.

_Troubles-_

~

Chakra exhaustion is not fun. Ryu would like to reiterate this. _Chakra exhaustion is not fun._ **Not. Fun. **Apparently diverting part of a temporary river by force is a little much even for the stupidly large reserves he has for this age. _Imagine that._

He can’t say he’s surprised by that, to be honest. No, he’s more in the way of _shocked_ that he managed to pull it off long enough that they’re _alive and undamaged_.

Although, since they’re stuck here because of one cart still being on the other side until the flood runs its course and the arroyo dries out sufficiently to cross, the others spent some of their time being curious, so now he knows that the jutsu’s diameter went well past a mile beyond his usual range on _both sides_ of the flood. Unfortunately, confined to laying down and resting for the meantime, he cannot confirm this with his own eyes, but it could be worse.

_He could be greeting the Shinigami, after all._

Another thing he has learned, somewhat to his dismay, is that the watering jutsu is apparently _not_ exempt from Mokuton contamination, the effect is merely delayed. The desert is _green_ everywhere the slurry of silt and water had landed. He’d woken to find the drovers curiously cutting sprouting branches off the sides of the carts and planting them on either side of the sandy track loosely referred to as the road, where they promptly grew roots and proceeded to grow another foot or two before calming down. The canvass covers seem immune, but he suspects that has more to do with them being oiled than actually immune.

Ryu has to wonder what future travelers will think of the phenomenon.

At least he can be grateful that Magoichi and the others assume that the phenomenon is the result of _‘Fumie-sama’_ following him around, rather than a direct result of his jutsu. If he’s lucky, their stories will be muddled enough that no one will ever make a connection.

He winces as Aoyono shrieks, not liking the porridge Aato is trying to feed her. Or possibly not liking that it’s Aato, not Ryu, feeding her. Then yawns and deliberately lets sleep pull him under so he doesn’t have to listen to _that_ fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aato- cook  
Daichi- drover  
Kazuki- drover  
Magoichi- travelling merchant
> 
> If you’re curious, yes, the reason Ryu found lotus in that reservoir earlier on is because he ‘made it rain mud’, the jutsu stirred up the underlying mud much faster than would have occurred otherwise. There still would’ve been lotus there eventually, because even his regular water jutsu has a delayed, dilute mokuton effect, but not in time for him to see it.  
Since Ryu’s actually not related to the Senju at all, his Mokuton is a little different. He has trouble separating it from his jutsus, for instance. He would have the same issue with earth jutsus as he does with shadow jutsus and water jutsus, but wind, fire, and lightning jutsus should not be affected. Assuming he learns any of those, of course. In canon, Shikaku only mastered Yin release (aka Shadow jutsus). Shadow jutsus are affected because they contact the ground and/or plants, not because they’re a Yin release. Most Yin and Yang release jutsus would probably remain unaffected.
> 
> Flash floods are also called gulleywashers, and they are _extremely dangerous_.  
They can rip up trees, float cars away, destroy houses, and pick up tons of mud and other detritus. Some are more gradual than others, but they occur much more suddenly than an average flood. Think of a water hose suddenly turned on full blast, now think of that water hose being canyon sized…yeah.  
They can occur if there’s rain miles away, ‘upstream’ so to speak in dry arroyos, or they can occur in canyons with existing rivers when there’s either excessive rain or if a dam breaks or has to be released to prevent it from breaking.  
One of the latter occurred in this area a few years back, and miles of road were washed out, at least one town’s sewer system was unearthed and washed out, miles of river were permanently terraformed, my city was lucky and had most of its water system above flood level and we were able to just close off the water system and avoid contamination, but the flood kept going and hit a city another thirty minutes out past our city and drowned housing in several neighborhoods enough to require evacuation, and had some serious issues with water contamination. The city above the damage had to have food supplies airlifted in until enough road was repaired. And two years later my city had to drain and dredge the city lake to remove the settled contamination. Everyone had to stay out of it until then. And that was one of the _least damaging_ floods of a similar nature that happened that year.


	6. River, That, This, and southern Grass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Northern River is depressing, southern Grass moreso, This and That on the other hand... Also, enough map/travel notes to choke on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited.

Northern River country is depressing. Even though the numerous rivers, now shallow and sluggish from long drought, guarantee that the people have more greenery than anywhere else they’ve been so far other than southern River country, it’s clear that the people themselves have given up and are just going through the motions of life. It’s puzzling and horrifying at the same time.

Technically, River is one of the richest countries due to its ability to support itself and even export food. Realistically, the populace has dropped drastically since _Shikaku’s_ lifetime, but that’s true of every place.

Finally, Magoichi explains the dichotomy. In the wake of the Elemental Nations’ slow slide towards desertification, most of River has renounced all religions, proclaiming that they will not follow kamis who allow such a thing and do nothing to help their people. It’s pitiable, in its way, since in giving up their faiths, the River citizens have also given up their hopes for the future to change.

Ryu doesn’t _really_ feel sorry for them, though. Not in that way, since not believing in kamis doesn’t force one to give up all hope. It is possible to believe in potentialities while turning one’s back on one’s kamis. Hard, probably not inherently healthy, but certainly possible and far less of a living death. Even in _Shikaku’s_ lifetime, many had only given lipservice to their beliefs. To walk around lifelessly because one’s _lipservice_ has been given up seems to him to be the height of irrationality. Particularly when there are places that have it far worse off than they do.

On the other hand, River has a much wider selection of plant life than he’s seen surviving elsewhere. Traveling towards Suna, southern River had yielded watercress, water lilies, two varieties of pitcher plants and several varieties of epiphytes, including one orchid. Northern River is very different, though. It has tiger lilies, day lilies, funeral lilies, two varieties of ground orchids _(ugly, but rare and unexpected)_, several pear varieties, a sour plum, a number of cultivated grains, and a couple varieties of apricots.

And his experience in Suna has given him an easy way to spread at least a little plant life without being too obvious. He spends much of the trip flicking tiny dirt balls filled with seeds to either side of the road. At most it should take a few weeks for them to crumble enough to release their precious cargos.

It amuses him to note that the belief of Fumie-sama seems to be threading its way into the country, little by little, in the most half-hearted way imaginable.

Plotting out which villages are routinely visited by Suna traders is very, very simple. People take one look at his medallion and direct him to tiny shrines erected by travelers from Sand. Or tell him that they don’t have one. Though he _does_ run into one enterprising retailer who has sets of bone utensils carved with abstract representations of the ‘kami’. The purveyor looks slightly amused at Ryu’s raised brows in reaction.

He makes certain to drop several mud balls of seeds outside the small store. And, of course, leaves some at every tiny shrine he finds. Along with surreptitious watering jutsus here and there to promote the idea of Fumie-sama’s existence when the delayed growth kicks in after their departure. The latter is the hardest, really. Flicking mud balls here and there around towns is _much_ simpler to disguise. But, unfortunately, a little difficult since he can’t exactly use Mokuton to restore his seed stash in front of others without giving himself away on the spot, thus leading to a shortage of spare seed to spread in thus manner.

~

As they cross into the land of That, the heady scent of basil has him jumping down from the cart and tracking down the scent. Oddly, it seems to emanate from an obviously abandoned, fenced in graveyard. Not only basil, but rosemary and tarragon have run riot over the space, spilling out from the low wooden fence into scrubby grass beyond. Not about to question his good fortune, including the fact that the plot can’t be seen from the road, he pushes Mokuton into the plants and carefully gathers seed from the specimens which have migrated outside of the small graveyard. Honestly, it wouldn’t bother him to gather directly from over such old graves, but it never hurts to be respectful if possible.

He picks some basil and tarragon leaves and a few sprigs of rosemary to share with the caravan. Mostly as courtesy, but in no small part because he enjoys seasonings in his food beyond salt.

And then, just because he can and because he’s been wondering off and on if being able to would be useful, he tries growing one of the worst off fence posts into a rough approximation of Fumie-sama’s purported semblance. It works…sorta. Well, it works, but the end product ends up looking like it grew out of multiple roots and vines twisting together towards the sky rather than a smooth roughly tree-statue thing. Though he _does_ learn that the wood was originally from a beech tree and probably imported. Naturally, he takes a few cuttings and seeds to tuck away in his pack. Just as he does with any tree variety that he runs across that has yet to be added to his collection.

The land of That is very different than River country, seeming to have shrines to every kami under the sun, scattered eclectically through each village. Kami names are dropped casually into nearly every conversation. The general attitude is of camaraderie and easy good cheer. While they are no better off than any other country, there is an air of viviality and conviviality to the populace, and the most negative thing Ryuhiko hears out of them is pity towards the residents of River, ‘those sad little heathens who’ve given up on living’.

Which… Honestly quite fair.

So maybe he leaves a couple shadow clones behind to enact appearances of Fumie-sama in addition to the seeds he spreads habitually now. There’s nothing wrong with that, after all. And in northern That, he finds a lone plant of golden thyme growing near one of their campsites, under the shadow of a long-fallen tree trunk. It’s ridiculous and unlikely to survive long in the location. Not to mention that once other travelers happen upon it, it is sure to be harvested like the bounty it is.

He may accidentally-on-purpose find himself standing where his shadow naturally falls over it, using it as cover to feed it mokuton, several times while they are there. It creeps out from under the hollow husk of wood far enough by the next morning that the caravan notices and takes a few cuttings with them. Ryu takes one of his own, of course, because he’s hardly going to miss this, _dare he say it?_, golden opportunity.

~

While not quite as cheerful as the land of That, the land of This is basically a toned down copy of it culturally. Ryu follows the same pattern he used in the land of That. Both for seeding and shadow clones. He mostly finds flowers in This: Mums, marigolds, and bachelor’s buttons. A fancy daylily. Wysteria. A variety of white Sakura tree. A variety of spearmint.

Okay, the spearmint isn’t a flower, per se, but he finds it because it’s in bloom and he notices a bee that had visited it buzzing past. Since bees are downright rare out of settled areas these days, it’s enough to have him vaulting off the cart and backtracking its trajectory in curiosity, ignoring Aoyono’s screams of offense at being left behind for once.

He comes back with a dirt covered cutting in one hand and a few mint leaves from the one stalk that hadn’t been blooming in the other. The caravan is appreciative enough of the rare treat that he barely gets scolded for startling them and leaving Aoyono to cry. Mostly the latter, really, since it’s hardly the first time he’s left the caravan to check for a plant. Or even close to it.

~

Coming out of the land of This, they travel northeast, until they meet up with the road that travels southeast-northwest between the border of Grass and Tanzaku Quarter _(a frail ghost of its former self, though it be)_. Instead of turning southeast, Magoichi surprises him by turning northwest towards Grass country.

The road splits not long after Tenchi Bridge. One branch following the river north until it joins up with the road that runs between Kusagakure and Waterfall’s border. But they take the older branch that heads southwest and runs somewhat haphazardly north of the border with Rain almost clear to the westernmost border section of Grass before turning northeast to head to Kusagakure.

The southern road _sucks._ On one hand, it’s one of the rare places he’s seen grass growing abundantly without human help. On the other, it has the bedraggled, flattened look of grass that has been pounded flat under brutal rains one too many times.

It’s one of the few places he’s seen in _this_ life where there is moisture constantly in the air. If it’s not misting, it’s foggy. If it’s not foggy, it’s pittering rain. If it’s not pittering, it’s _pouring_ rain. Or on one particularly uncheerful day, it dumps varying sizes of hail on them for most of the day. On average, he’s asked to empty more large puddles than he has fingers onto nearby slopes, so Magoichi can bake the slimy mud enough for the wagons to cross without getting hopelessly stuck. They make perhaps a third of their usual progress per day, and by the time they turn northeast for Kusa and the weather conditions slack off to merely _‘highly annoying’_ instead of _‘increased risk of deadly accidents’_, Ryu is thoroughly sick of the constant rain and fog and mist.

Even as the grass perks up to happy and healthy, though, he notices what is missing. Grass was, once upon a time, home to massive giant mushroom forests and bamboo forests, sometimes intermixing happily, that had sprawled all around Kusagakure to the western border, as well as over half the country north, east, and south of Kusagakure. They spot a few stands of bamboo as the rains peter out, but those soon die out as they move northeast. There’s nary a giant mushroom to be seen, and where the grass hasn’t taken over, the land lies barren and eroded, a sure sign that even the roots of the fungi forests have died out, unable to hold the soil any longer.

While Ryu is used to seeing the devastation left in the wake of the fallen forests of Fire, this is worse, somehow. He takes to fussing over Aoyono meticulously in a vain effort to avoid looking at the deathscape that was once thriving forests and hamlets. He doesn’t even try looking for plants to add to his collection, because the ravaged landscape is more depressing than the entirety of River had been. Here there is no one to be depressing, because there’s nothing surviving. Ryu is pretty sure this area of Grass is what hell looks like.

He really wants to crawl into his bedroll and not come out until after they’re through this, but alas. If not for feeding Aoyono meals and the caravan cook, Aoto, forcing meals into his hands, he would be missing meals out of sheer lack of appetite.

They are almost to Kusagakure when Kazuki calls out, “Ryuhiko, come look. Mushrooms.”

Baffled but hopeful, he emerges from the wagon to sit on the seat beside Kazuki. Indeed, there _are_ mushrooms here. Ones up to his knees in height and the occasional one that reaches his shoulders and even a couple that loom up at cart height. Nothing like the height of the mushrooms that rivalled the forests of Konoha in size, but clearly a remnant. The sheer relief that _some_ of it survives makes him giddy for the rest of the day, and he stalwartly ignores the amused looks he receives as a result. _Even mokuton can replace something entirely lost to time. With something to work with, on the other hand, well…_

_That really says it all_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beech is an actual species of tree. <https://urnabios.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/BEECH.jpg> It’s a deciduous tree native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. There are at least 11-12 varieties of beech. It has edible (if somewhat bitter) nuts, and has very thin, delicate bark that doesn’t heal well from injuries.
> 
> Ryohiko is wrong. He _could_ use mokuton to recreate the giant mushrooms if he’d had to, but belief plays a large part in any success, so he might never have discovered that he can.
> 
> This is the map I’m using: <http://i.imgur.com/7jj9Psy.png> In my head, what’s marked as Whirlpool is actually Hot Water, and what’s marked as Hot Water is actually part of Frost.  
In addition, there’s a road from Konoha that wraps over eastnortheast and meets up with the north-south road in HotWater|Whirlpool. The village Green Kami is along this northeast route.  
Ryo’s journey with Magoichi takes this road northeast, then south through Sora-ku and down further to the crossroads north of Tsuchigumo, before turning north again, then west, through southern Fire, River, and Wind. They then go north to Suna, then north again before turning northeast through River and up into the lands of That and This.  
Consider this as a _‘Shikaku’s lifetime’_ map, thus in the now _(Ryu’s lifetime)_ **some** roads shown on here have altered, gone out of use, or have come into existence since and thus are missing entirely.  
From there, they follow the road northeast, then northwest up into Grass. There’s now a road that cuts from the Tenchi Bridge area northwest along the east bank of the river until it meets up with the northeast-southwest road that runs northeast past the spot labeled Oro’s lab. _(The road that runs southwest, then northeast to Kusagakure is still extant. And actually this is the road they take.)_ There’s also a road that cuts from the northmost section of the road that runs past Oro’s lab to the northeast through southern Waterfall until it meets up at the western bend of the larger river with a southeast-northwest road that runs between Takigakure and what’s labeled as Hachou Village. From there, they follow the road southeast to _‘Hachou Village’_ before following the road to Shukuba Town and then into Konohagakure.  
All that remains of Hachou Village is some open stables built by and maintained by travelers, suited to sheltering caravans from inclement weather, which they see a fair bit of. The road between Tonika Village and Hachou Village is no longer extant. Tonika Village has moved southeast, south of the lake on the river. There’s an extra loop of road between Hachou Village and Shukuba Town now that runs along the east side of the river, since many small villages exist along the river south of the lake. Much of the northwest tip of Fire is now unhabitable due to inclement weather. From around Hachou Village, through the mid-south end of the lake, then mostly straight west to the border, only dipping a little south. Although the area gets more moisture than most of Fire, it’s in terrible shape and the loss of its forests at an earlier stage means the erosion rate is terrific _(not in a good way)_. Thus the abandonment of all the villages in the area, both named and unnamed.  
Also, the bridge in northern Waterfall labeled Kannabi is _mislabeled_. I say this because Kannabi Bridge is on Kusagakure territory, according to Wikia info, which _makes sense_ since that places it in the direct invasion path between Iwa and Konoha (if one follows the road, that is). So...the one _mislabeled_ as Kannabi, I'm calling Shiro Bridge with the idea that it's always frosted with mist from the nearby waterfall and is an icy, dangerous bridge at the best of times. I'm placing Kannabi bridge some miles east and a bit north of Kusagakure along that half-hearted attempt at a ridge, which is actually a river gorge with a branch of the river (not shown) running through it, southwest down past Kusagakure before swinging southeast below that. Kannabi bridge is where the road actually crosses the gorge, and it is maintained by Kusagakure.


	7. Mushrooms, Banana and Display Item

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Approaching Kusa, Ryu doesn't use his head. And in Kusa, he makes some apparently uneven bargains. Y'know, if he was trying to make a real profit instead of just acquiring what he wants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing happened! Also, still behind about a week and a half on comments, but no longer over a month behind, so, progress. Chapter count may increase. We'll see.
> 
> ~
> 
> Faraz Sohrab- A trader from Sand. Faraz is his surname, Sohrab is his given name. His trade route goes from Mori Village in Sand, east along the southern road in Wind and then north to Suna and north through Stone before going east through Rain, northeast to Kusa, then northwest to what’s [labeled](https://i.imgur.com/7jj9Psy.png) as Taniku (but as Irori in a [later version](https://i.imgur.com/mXMQYET.jpg) of the map) in Earth, before swinging southwest to Gokayama (or Umo Village) in Birds and west through the lands of Fangs, Claws, and Vegetables, before swinging south and southwest to the northern coast of Sand, thence southeast to arrive back at his start point.  
His main transport is fruits and other produce from one area to the next, with a small stock of seeds that he occasionally sells to wealthy clients or trades with other merchants. Unlike Magoichi, he doesn’t carry enough seed to trade to villagers. That said, over half his route is open road without very many villages along the way. Most of his trade is in larger cities, except in the four small countries of Birds, Fangs, Claws, and Vegetables, which have largely similar flora to begin with and merchants with shorter routes who monopolize what little trade in seeds there is available there. He sometimes makes trades with other merchants on behalf of wealthy clients who want something specific, such as apple seeds from Green Kami.

Ryu leaves Aoyono asleep, cuddled up in his jacket, hoping it’s enough to keep her sleeping soundly. Normally he wouldn’t be against taking her with him, but tonight he needs to climb and he won’t risk falling while carrying her. Not that falling is _likely_, of course, but he’s a bit out of practice with tree walking, for obvious reasons. And, well, unlike true trees and bamboo, he can’t simply take a cutting and expect to be able to grow a mushroom from it. He needs spores, and unfortunately those are located in the underside of the caps at full maturity. The mushrooms sporadically surviving here are far from mature, judging on their size alone. That means boosting their growth significantly and _then_ climbing them to harvest spores.

He slips out of camp, over to the nearest convenient mushroom. And by that, he doesn’t mean the one twenty yards from the caravan, he means the one a couple hundred yards out, its cap barely showing above the small vale that hides most of it from sight. With any luck, no one will pay attention to its sudden growth come morning.

The dirt changes from loose and too dry to firm a few feet from the bottom of the vale, turning his careful slide into a stumble that nearly has him faceplanting into the giant mushroom. Afraid his momentum will be enough to break it in these conditions, he manages to turn and land on his shoulder in the dirt. He takes a moment to recover, then spits out a soft curse and sits up, rubbing his shoulder ruefully. It’s a bit pathetic how clumsy he is in this life, his body lacking the training to keep up with his mind. Well, whatever. He scooches around so he can lean his back against the trunk of the mushroom and starts feeding it mokuton steadily.

Surprisingly, there is no creak or rustle of sudden growth and Ryu frowns. It’s almost like the plant is sucking up the mokuton like a sponge but…not swelling. Or is it? He tries to trace the energy with his mokuton, but it really isn’t a sensory skill, not that he’d ever managed to learn sensing properly in his previous life. He can sense a little ways, sense as far as the plant accepting the energy and sending it…somewhere, but where he has no clue. Annoyed, he pushes more mokuton at it to see if it will make a difference. All that nets him sometime later is the ache of tiredness as he runs low on chakra. Not willing to exhaust his chakra, he reluctantly stops, wondering why the giant mushrooms are so different from trees and even other fungus in their energy requirements…

_Fungus_.

Ryuhiko facepalms as he suddenly remembers that fungi can have root systems that run for literal miles. _Of course_. It had been sending the mokuton energy into its vital root systems, not the less necessary surface elements. _He’s an idiot_. And apparently one who will _not_ be harvesting spores tonight despite his best efforts.

With a sigh, he gets to his feet, eyeing the not-any-taller mushroom in the faint pre-dawn light. _The hell_. Then he sneezes as powder drifts down from the open gills.

_Wait. Open?_

Then this isn’t dust, it’s spores.

A faint breeze knocks loose a heavy puff of them, covering him in a thick layer of spores. Not exactly the way he’d intended to gather them, but… He pulls a bamboo container out of his pocket, opens it and begins brushing spores off his skin and clothes into it as efficiently as he can manage. This endeavor is helped along with several more heavy puffs of falling spores and the small container is half full by the time it’s light enough that he _needs_ to return to the caravan.

Magoichi is already up and stirring the fire to life.

He takes one look at Ryu and snorts in amusement. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t see you come back from collecting samples of giant mushrooms, since that’s a capital crime in Grass. Go clean yourself and your clothes off thoroughly so no one else sees it either.”

Ryu grimaces. _Of course. He should have thought about that_. The spores are dark in color and he probably looks like he’s been dipped in them headfirst. He scurries to shake out his clothing and wipe off his face and arms thoroughly before filling a bucket with water and dousing himself in it to rid himself of the remnants, then refilling it to rinse out his clothes in.

When he’s done, he refills it again along with the other buckets for the oxen and climbs into the cart to get dressed in his spare set of clothing as the others start stirring. Then he hangs up his damp clothing on a string that runs just under the canopy of the cart to dry. Constant travel is far from convenient, but they have ways to work around that, such as this makeshift laundry line. Once that is done, he stashes the container of spores in one of the storage scrolls at the bottom of his pack, away from prying eyes. Kusagakure would undoubtedly get extremely testy over the merest suspicion of those spores, after all. Best not to offer any hints of their existence.

Not that he feels any guilt, of course. At worst, he’s ensured that the existing mushrooms will have a few extra years of life, which is certainly a more than fair trade for a few thousand spores. At best, he’s singlehandedly revived one of their famous mushroom forests. Only time will tell, of course, but those are the two likeliest extremes.

~

Kusa’s marketplace is more tightly regulated than Suna's, with most of it in tidy little shops rather than market stalls. Only a small portion is set up with stalls for displaying produce of various sorts. They arrive shortly before noon, and all that’s left in the produce stalls are a few wilted, overripe odds and ends.

Ryu browses through, but finds little that interests him to any degree. Although one stall has an oblong blackened thing that pings something in his memory, but he can’t quite place. He pokes at it dubiously, wincing when it squishes ominously under a light touch. “What’s this?”

The vendor sighs and says with a tinge of self-directed humor, “Well, it _was_ a banana. I picked up a load of them when I was down along the coast in Sand. That was the only one that didn’t sell out in Suna, but now it’s too ripe to use as anything except fertilizer.”

“Do they have seeds?”

“Yes, but they won’t grow here. Not enough moisture. Sand used to sell seedless ones, I’m told, but with the climate change the seedless varieties proved too fragile, so they turned back to the tougher seeded varieties. You have an interest in seeds?”

He grins at the vendor and absently untangles Aoyono’s hand from his hair. “Yes. I plan to be a seed merchant.”

“Oh? Ambitious.”

“Saa, I come from Green Kami village, so I at least have some seeds to trade.”

The vendor blinks at him for a moment, then snaps his fingers. “_That_ village? Over in Fire, right? I don’t get over that way, but I’ve heard of it. Suna’s been talking about that new kami from there lately. Tell you what. I have a client in Taniku-Irori who inquired about getting some apple seeds from Green Kami. I don’t know that they’ll do you any good unless you find a client with a greenhouse, but if you have at least ten apple seeds from Green Kami, I’ll give you the banana and I have a few orange and lemon seeds in stock to trade for them.”

Ryu eyes the vendor in mild astonishment and decides that the man is being deliberately generous due to his age. “Deal. And if you have any lime seeds, I’ll make it 20 seeds.”

“That’s too generous. You won’t make it in the seed business if you trade like that.” The vendor scolds. “I only have two lime seeds in stock and they’re in poor condition. Make it 15 seeds and we have a deal.”

“Fifteen apple seeds, then.” Ryu agrees.

As they count out their respective seeds for the trade, Aoyono leans over and grabs the banana, trying to put it in her mouth and simultaneously squeezing it, only to burst into tears when it splurts slime over her face and hands.

Wincing, he pries the sadly smooshed and dribbling banana out of her hands before more damage can be done. “Silly girl, you don’t want to eat that. Don’t just grab stuff, Aoyono.” He chides and uses a cloth he carries for wiping up spit up to clean her face and hands enough that she quits fussing.

“I am Faraz Sohrab. It is nice doing business with you.” The vendor offers as they conclude their trade.

“Ryuhiko Shimura.” Ryu returns amiably.

~

The paper and ink shop is quiet. Well, parchment and ink. Rice requires too much water for most places to support now, so rice paper is now an expensive commodity well out of his price range. Not that he really wants paper. No, he’s here because he’s looking for something to store multiple storage scrolls in, and barring that, to pick up the supplies to make it himself.

There _are_ a couple of those available, but this isn’t the shinobi quarter. They are ostentatious things, designed so even a civilian can use them, and far from what he wants. It’s not that he begrudges sharing, but thieves do not deserve to prosper from his hard work, nor are thieves usually the sort to take care and not destroy delicate samples. If someone is going to steal from him, he at least wants it to be because they are _competent_.

After all, he can always retrace the route and the best benefit to using the mokuton is that he knows there will be more than he left behind. Just, well. He’d really prefer to avoid the theft in the first place.

At the very least, though, he needs more storage scrolls. The ones he has are adequate for now, but won’t be once he’s working on his own without support from a caravan. He picks out a few of the cheapest scrolls and is considering the ink blocks when the store owner clears his throat.

“It’s a bit more expensive, but I have liquid ink for sale too. Spit isn’t the best thing to mix ink with.”

Ryu shrugs and replies absently. “It’s not a problem. My mother taught me a watering jutsu. And I don’t have the coin to spare.”

“What’s your name, kid?” He doesn’t see the store owner’s eyes narrow in suspicion, but he notes the too casual tone.

Strange to be asked the same question twice in one day, even if Sohrab had done so much more politely and roundaboutly. He glances up and raises a brow at the look on the storekeeper’s face. “Ryuhiko Shimura.”

“That clan? I didn’t realize there were any of you left.”

He looks blankly at him, then realizes that the Shimura clan was probably pressured to move out of Konoha in the aftermath of Danzo’s betrayal. “Just some civilians in small villages, I think.”

“But you were taught a watering jutsu?”

Ryu gives him a funny look. “Who _wouldn’t_ pass down a watering jutsu? Anyways, Shimura is my mother’s maiden name.”

“And your father?”

Honestly, Ryu is tempted to tell him to fuck off, but he knows it won’t serve him well.

“He broke the rules of hospitality. I don’t know who he was.” He says harshly. _Hopefully someone killed the rapist like the scum he is_. Ryu is fully aware just how lucky he and his mother are that the village didn’t choose to scorn and ostracize them for his bastard birth.

“Ah.” The man’s tone turns sympathetic and he nods at Aoyono. “Your little sister?”

“No. I’m apprenticing with a merchant trader and we passed through Sora-ku. Someone gave her to me.”

“Huh. I’d like to say how unusual that is, but truthfully I’ve heard of much stranger things happening in that city.”

“Yeah.” Ryu agrees with a grumble and pokes at a small, leather-bound booklet. “What’s this?”

“Mostly a display piece. It was my daughter’s first successful project, but it’s obviously a child’s work, so no one has wanted to buy it.”

Ryu opens it and pages through it. The parchment is thick, but obviously treated to be suitable for a scribe to use. Each page has small holes punched in it, with some sort of oiled plant fiber used to loosely sew the top of pieces of fabric to the paper. The cloth is decorated with feathers, bits of leather scraps, colorful paint and small pieces of mica and quartz crystal. Obviously more intended to be a conversation piece than anything useful, there is a clumsy air to it, despite the meticulous binding, that speaks of inexperience. He can see why it didn’t sell. More importantly, though, the squares of fabric are only bound to the paper along one edge and cover each blank page thoroughly. And the parchment is thick enough to support a seal on both sides of the paper. Though it will take work to add the seals, it is ideal for his purposes, something more likely to be seen as a child’s toy than as a storage device for multiple storage scrolls.

He checks the price and grimaces. Truthfully the materials _do_ warrant the price, but it means he needs to put back the blank scrolls.

“Hey, kid. Does your jutsu create water or just use existing water?” The owner speaks up suddenly.

“I can do it both ways.” He admits, looking up curiously.

“If you fill my rain barrel, I’ll give you half off of everything and throw in that book free.”

“Deal.” He agrees instantly. The nosy man may _think_ he’s getting the better part of the deal, but given the ease with which Ryu can fill the barrel and the current state of his finances, it’s an invaluable bargain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few weeks later, a team of Kusa ninjas notice a new patch of hundreds of 3 to 4 ft. high mushrooms near the road (where Ryu washed himself off), literally trying to crowd each other out. The discovery team becomes somewhat famous within Grass.  
Baffled and excited by this phenomenon, Kusa ninjas send out experts to study it and even manage, with utmost care, to transplant many of them to other areas. At some point in the process, a nearby vale with a mature mushroom-tree is also discovered, theorized to be the parent of the patch. As such, they scrape up any visible traces of spores remaining around it (although the wind has long since carried most of them off) and attempt to start them in other places with extreme success.  
By transplanting the new starts and spreading spores in rainy weather, they manage to begin reforestation in several devastated areas. Some of the windblown spores survive long enough to make contact with enough dampness to start growing, mostly in uninhabited areas, but a few villagers end up contacting Kusa to have the baby mushroom colonies removed to somewhere more convenient than the middle of their vegetable patch. Except for that one old guy who just hacks the invaders up and adds the result to his soil, resulting in a weirdly robust garden area.  
The root system that Ryu personally boosted with Mokuton ‘slowly’ becomes a thriving forest over the next year or so and gains the name Rebirth Forest. The name quickly leads to some odd local legends, including the repurposing of long discarded kamis as the pantheon of the forest.  
Meanwhile, Ryuhiko remains happily clueless as to these events. Whenever he thinks about the devastation he saw, he gets depressed, so he has no intention of coming back to Grass any time soon. Since he has spores now, he has no fear of the giant mushrooms going extinct in the meantime, because if they do he has a means of reviving them. Most likely he’d be far less sanguine about this if he considered the general lifespan of spores _(which is generally 6-9 months when stored at room temperature, possibly 4-5 months longer if refrigerated)_.
> 
> Ryu: (_Fills up water barrel, walks out with exactly what he needs and funds left over_.)  
Store owner: (_Smug that he got rid of the unsellable book and got two weeks’ worth of water into the bargain_.)  
In Kusa, as in most places, water is strictly rationed. If you count a ration as 1 gallon per person per day, it’s actually a quite large rain barrel. Not all places have rain barrels, simply because they don’t get enough moisture to, but Kusa experiences the occasional seasonal downpour that pushes over from the nasty drowning-wet weather that plagues the southern border with Rain and a bit north of that. From about Amegakure over to the border with Fire, and north a bit past the southernmost road in Grass, is one of the wettest areas in the Elemental Nations. It’s downright sodden on a nice day. This is basically due to a convergence of weather patterns coming southwest out of Waterfall, southeast out of Earth, and east-northeast out of Wind combined with severe deforestation in Earth and Waterfall over the past couple centuries.  
Normally, Magoichi has to trade a portion of goods at each village to refill water barrels strapped to the wagons. While there are a few accessible water sources (mainly seeps) not monopolized by villages, it’s not very many or very abundant. Despite the goods he’s given to Ryu on this trip, he’s actually experiencing a noticeable net gain because of Ryu’s ability to create water out of thin air.

**Author's Note:**

> So...idk. Let me know what you think.


End file.
